The 10% President

The annotated Obama: How 90% of the deficit becomes somebody else's fault.

Updated Sept. 26, 2012 12:01 a.m. ET

A question raised by President Obama's immortal line on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday—"I think that, you know, as President, I bear responsibility for everything, to some degree"—is what that degree really is. Maybe 70% or 80% of the buck stops with him? Or is it halfsies?

Nope. Now we know: It turns out the figure is 10%. The other 90% is somebody else's fault.